A14| Thursday, August 22, 2019 THE WALL STREET JOURNAL.
with the ninth overall pick in the
draft last year and promised him
millions of dollars. It wasn’t par-
ticularly controversial because
Murray wasn’t seen as an elite
NFL prospect.
Thiswasforafewreasons.He
had played only sparingly until his
last year at Oklahoma. He played
in one of those so-called college
offenses for the Sooners. And he’s
5-foot-10, which you may have
heard is just a little bit short for
playing quarterback in the NFL.
But in a matter of months last
fall, the NFL changed rapidly in a
way that transformed the likes of
Kingsbury and Murray from fringe
outsiders to the vanguard of a rev-
olution. Mahomes became the
NFL’s MVP. Baker Mayfield, Mur-
ray’s predecessor at Oklahoma and
another small-statured quarter-
back, shined as a rookie for the
Cleveland Browns. Innovative
coaches who adopted college of-
fense concepts, like Andy Reid and
Sean McVay, dominated the
league.
So when Kingsbury took over
the Cardinals, he wasn’t charged
with trying to adapt to the NFL.
They wanted something else: the
NFL adapting to the Cardinals.namic offenses and developed the
NFL’s pre-eminent star. There was
also an obvious question mark: in
six seasons coaching the Red Raid-
ers, he went only 35-40.
And Kingsbury’s doubters may
latch onto Arizona’s early pre-sea-
son games, where the offense has
struggled and at times looked out
of sorts. His ideas, though, aren’t
theoretical: they’re supported by
quants who urge offenses to play
faster, out of the shotgun more of-
ten and throw it with abandon be-
cause it’s more efficient. That’s ex-
actly what the Cardinals plan to
do. With their modification of the
Air Raid, they will rarely line up
under center, and they’ll likely run
more plays than almost every
other team in the league—ideas
that have driven modern NFL suc-
cess and are backed up by stacks
of data.
Still, it’s impossible to grasp
Kingsbury’s vision without consid-
ering it through someone else: Ky-
ler Murray. “He would’ve been
playing baseball five years ago,”
Kingsbury says.
Murray had the pleasant prob-
lem of being one of the best play-
ers on the planet in two sports.
The Oakland Athletics took himulary for understanding what
makes his hiring so radical: Air
Raid. That’s the name of the of-
fense that Kingsbury played in at
Texas Tech, and later used there
when he was the team’s coach.
The Air Raid barely resembles
traditional football, and that’s on
purpose. Air Raid offenses are pre-
mised on the extreme. They almost
exclusively line up out of the shot-
gun, they play at a lightning pace,
and they aggressively spread the
field to pass the ball down field,
again and again.
The Air Raid was an idea born
out of desperation. Thirty years
ago, Hal Mumme and Mike Leach
needed an edge at Iowa Wesleyan,
an off-the-map NAIA college, and
came up with the crazy offense.
And it was so effective that it
trickled up the ranks of college
football and produced outrageous
numbers—Kingsbury left Texas
Tech with NCAA records for most
career passing attempts, comple-
tions and more.
Except for years, NFL teams
turned their noses at it. They con-
cluded, en masse, that no matter
how well it worked in college, it
would never work in the pros.
More concerningly, they thought,Glendale, Ariz.K
liff Kingsbury was ut-
terly perplexed the
first time he entered
the NFL.
It was 2003, and he
was drafted in the sixth round by
the New England Patriots after a
college career where he broke, and
in many cases obliterated, all sorts
of NCAA passing records. But NFL
offenses looked nothing like the
frenetic—and highly productive—
one he starred in at Texas Tech.
For years, that remained the same.
“Not seeing anything remotely
close, I was always fascinated by
that,” he says. And over the years
he couldn’t help but think to him-
self: “Why is nobody trying this?”
Somebody will be trying it this
year. That will be Kliff Kingsbury,
who was hired to coach the Ari-
zona Cardinals after getting fired
as the coach of his alma mater,
Texas Tech. Now he’s engineering
the wildest experiment in the NFL:
Can the Cardinals win running a
college offense led by a coach
who’s an offensive guru but had a
losing record in college running
that same system?
Kingsbury isn’t the first college
coach to leap to the NFL. Jimmy
Johnson won two Super Bowls
with the Dallas Cowboys. Chip
Kelly looked promising before
flaming out. Nick Saban went back
after two seasons.
But the Cardinals didn’t just
hire any sub-.500 college coach.
They picked one with a distinct vi-
sion: that the NFL, a billion-dollar
business where endless resources
get poured into winning at all
costs, has been stunningly slow to
adopt basic changes that are
backed up by analytics and success
at every level of the sport.
This is precisely what Kingsbury
represents: the forefront of the of-
fense-crazed NFL. In a rapidly
changing league, the Cardinals hit
the fast-forward button hard with
someone who’s an offensive whiz,
running the schemes and concepts
that were shaping the NFL’s best
offenses even before he arrived.
And since his arrival Kingsbury
hasn’t shied away from challeng-
ing norms. The coach with the un-
usual background began his tenure
by making an appropriately un-
usual decision: taking 5-foot-
Oklahoma quarterback Kyler Mur-
ray with the first overall pick of
the draft. Murray, the Cardinals
felt, was a generational talent no
matter his small size. But the up-
shot was huge: Arizona wouldn’t
abide by traditions that have gov-
erned the league for decades just
for the sake of doing so.
“I’ve asked a bunch of questions
since I’ve been here: ‘Why don’t
people do this?’ ‘Why can’t we do
this?’ ‘Why can’t we do that?’ ”
Kingsbury says. “A lot of the time,
the answer just is: ‘Nobody has.’ ”
Two words are necessary vocab-Weather
Shown are today’s noon positions of weather systems and precipitation. Temperature bands are highs for the day.City Hi Lo W Hi Lo W City Hi LoW Hi LoWToday Tomorrow Today TomorrowCity Hi Lo W Hi Lo WAnchorage 67 54 pc 65 49 pc
Atlanta 94 72 t 92 74 t
Austin 97 74 s 98 75 pc
Baltimore 94 70 pc 78 63 t
Boise 83 56 pc 87 62 s
Boston 9167pc 8063s
Burlington 81 57 pc 76 55 pc
Charlotte 92 73 t 91 69 t
Chicago 79 61 pc 75 61 s
Cleveland 73 59 t 74 58 s
Dallas 98 78 s 97 76 pc
Denver 88 61 t 88 59 s
Detroit 79 61 pc 75 57 s
Honolulu 92 77 pc 91 78 pc
Houston 94 76 s 92 75 t
Indianapolis 79 63 t 79 59 pc
Kansas City 79 67 t 79 67 pc
Las Vegas 107 78 s 105 78 s
Little Rock 93 71 t 88 72 t
Los Angeles 86 65 pc 82 63 pc
Miami 90 79 pc 90 79 t
Milwaukee 75 62 s 71 62 s
Minneapolis 75 56 s 75 57 s
Nashville 91 71 t 86 71 t
New Orleans 89 75 pc 86 74 t
New York City 90 68 pc 78 65 pc
Oklahoma City 95 70 pc 90 68 pcOmaha 79 64 pc 80 66 pc
Orlando 90 75 t 89 75 t
Philadelphia 93 71 pc 80 63 pc
Phoenix 108 82 pc 105 83 pc
Pittsburgh 77 57 t 75 53 pc
Portland, Maine 86 59 pc 79 54 pc
Portland, Ore. 75 55 pc 79 56 pc
Sacramento 98 63 s 94 62 s
St. Louis 80 68 t 80 67 pc
Salt Lake City 91 65 pc 89 68 s
San Francisco 78 58 pc 79 59 pc
SantaFe 8957pc 8957pc
Seattle 74 57 pc 75 56 pc
Sioux Falls 78 58 pc 78 63 t
Wash., D.C. 94 73 pc 81 65 tAmsterdam 73 53 pc 77 57 s
Athens 93 80 s 93 77 s
Baghdad 109 79 s 110 81 s
Bangkok 90 79 t 93 79 t
Beijing 91 66 s 89 65 pc
Berlin 77 56 pc 81 59 s
Brussels 76 53 s 79 56 s
Buenos Aires 59 38 pc 61 47 pc
Dubai 104 90 s 108 92 s
Dublin 68 57 c 71 54 pc
Edinburgh 65 58 sh 70 56 pcFrankfurt 79 55 s 82 59 s
Geneva 77 58 pc 79 58 pc
Havana 89 71 t 88 72 t
Hong Kong 92 83 t 93 83 t
Istanbul 87 72 s 86 75 s
Jakarta 92 76 pc 91 75 sh
Jerusalem 86 67 s 89 70 s
Johannesburg 72 45 s 76 46 s
London 76 56 pc 78 56 s
Madrid 92 64 pc 93 64 pc
Manila 89 81 t 88 80 t
Melbourne 55 40 pc 62 46 s
Mexico City 72 58 t 74 59 pc
Milan 81 67 pc 82 67 pc
Moscow 74 51 c 72 51 s
Mumbai 86 80 sh 87 78 sh
Paris 81 57 s 83 59 s
Rio de Janeiro 73 65 sh 71 63 sh
Riyadh 111 81 s 110 78 s
Rome 85 68 pc 86 68 pc
San Juan 89 77 pc 90 78 pc
Seoul 86 69 pc 85 68 pc
Shanghai 91 80 pc 91 79 pc
Singapore 91 81 t 89 81 pc
Sydney 6544pc 6445s
Taipei City 95 79 t 95 82 s
Tokyo 86 80 c 88 79 t
Toronto 7456pc 7354pc
Vancouver 70 55 pc 71 52 pc
Warsaw 7453pc 7854pc
Zurich 76 54 pc 77 57 pcToday TomorrowU.S. Forecasts
International
City Hi LoW Hi LoWs...sunny; pc... partly cloudy; c...cloudy; sh...showers;
t...t’storms; r...rain; sf...snow flurries; sn...snow; i...ice
Today TomorrowWarmColdStationaryShowersRainT-stormsSnowFlurriesIce<
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VegasSeattleBoiseDenverMpls./St. PaulSt. LouisChicagoWashington D.C.BostonCharlestonMilwaukee HartfordWichitaIndianapolisClevelandBuffaloAustinHelena BismarckAlbuquerqueOmahaOklahoma CitySan AntonioDes MoinesSioux FallsJackson BirminghamCheyenne PhiladelphiaRenoSanta FeColorado
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VancouverCalgaryEdmonton70s
80s
60s90s40s
50s60s100s60s60s60s60s80s80s
100s100s90s
90s90s90s
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90s80s100s80s 80s50s70s70s70s70s70s70s70sDEPARTMENT OF CORRECTIONS|
By John-Clark Levin & Jeff Chen
Across
1 Middle word in
many Italian
menu items
5 Automaker Benz
9 TV band
12 Jessica of “The
Sinner”
13 “To refresh your
memory...”
15 Viking quaff
17 Constellation
that translates to
“lesser dog”
19 Pot grower?
20 Indian prime
minister before
Modi
21 Stampede
stimulus
23 West Coast’s US
101, e.g.24 “Ooh la la!”
26 Fair hiring inits.
27 Chihuahua cry
28 Devices often
located under a
laptop keyboard
32 Treaty assoc.
since 1948
33 Check if a body
has arms
34 Prison with no
wall or guard
towers, typically
41 “We ___ please”
42 Vapers don’t
make it
43 Cows raised on
corn
50 Destinations for
EMTs
51 Homer’s “rosy-
fingered”
goddess52 Eva Duarte’s
married name
53 Max Scherzer or
Anthony Rendon,
e.g.
54 Impressively
successful
57 Cleveland
Browns fans
with a “Pound”
59 Flag
61 Outburst on
discovering a
rigged game, and
how to “correct”
the circled letters
63 Port at the
mouth of the
Red Sea
64 Millions of
Russians, until
the Emancipation
Reform of 1861TheWSJDailyCrossword |Edited by Mike Shenk
1234 5678 91011
12 13 14 15 16
17 18 19
20 21 22 23
24 25 26 27
28 29 30 31
32 33
34 35 36 37 38 39 40
41 42
43 44 45 46 47 48 49
50 51 52
53 54 55 56 57 58
59 60 61 62
63 64 65
66 67 68Previous Puzzle’s Solutions
Solve this puzzle online and discuss it at WSJ.com/Puzzles.NOD PALM I NMATE
ONO OBOE NEURON
HAMSTERS BOTTOM
OD I E TEAR ALTA
PAN I CS SHYSTERS
ER I KA EPHESUS
RECORD ATRA SEE
SP INSTERS
DES OXES SONOMA
EMPOR I A NANAS
BOOSTERS LAPELS
ATOM SAR I ACA I
T I LERS LOBSTERS
EVENUP SOYA L I T
REDTEA ATAD LAS65 Headey of
“Game of
Thrones”
66 Waiting time?
67 Birthday
celebrant’s
secret
68 Fitbit unit
Down
1 Class recital
2 Serve as a
go-between
3 Three-time
world
heavyweight
champion Lewis
4 Burning
5 Participant in
a June 2018
summit
6 “Right away!”
in biz memos
7 Manipur
monarch
8 Company
known for little
training
9 Co-star of
Nathan and
Matthew in
“The Producers”
10 First Tudor
monarch
11 Having the
most marbling
14 Hung out
16 Outside the solar
system, to
astronomers18 Deck holder for
dealers
22 Vacation isle in
the Ionian Sea
25 Something you
shouldn’t drop
in public
29 “Hamburger Hill”
setting
30 Dictator whom
Obama called
on to resign in
2011
31 Like the v. “sing”
34 Printer’s hue
35 Blackout causes
36 One might get a
gold star, briefly
37 “___ complicated”
38 Exodus leader
39 Corner key
40 Bloke
44 Bears, as a bill
45 Abstain from
46 Independent
program for
“ideas worth
spreading” to
local groups
47 Is losing to
48 Like dachshunds
49 Pistons’ home
55 Russell of “The
Americans”
56 Does in
58 Lose it
60 Bus. letter abbr.
62 Kinda sortait produced flawed players who
sputtered when they had to learn
NFL-style offenses.
Then the same minds that for
decades considered the Air Raid a
gimmick began sprinkling ele-
ments of it into their offenses. And
the ideas they shunned for yearsbegan producing the most efficient
offenses in the NFL. Meanwhile,
those players are no longer seen
as flawed—they’re the NFL’s next
generationofstars.Thatincludes
Patrick Mahomes, who Kingsbury
coached at Texas Tech.
Kingsbury’s expertise as a
player and coach in this system—
plus his experience of having
briefly played in the NFL—made
him a cutting-edge hire. He ran
some of college football’s most dy-In a rapidly changing
league, the Cardinals hit
the fast-forward button
hard with someone
who’s an offensive whiz.BYANDREWBEATONThe Coach Bringing College to the NFL
The league has shunned the Air Raid for years. Arizona hired Kliff Kingsbury, drafted Kyler Murray and went all in.
MATT YORK/ASSOCIATED PRESS
Kliff Kingsbury, right, watched for years as the NFL ignored ideas that dominated college football and wondered to himself: ‘Why is nobody trying this?’SPORTS